Crate



CRATE Filed Feb. '7, 1924 Patented Jan. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES EDWARD F. MALA, OF KINGSTON, NEW YORK.

Application filed February 7, 1924. Serial No. 691,273.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD F. MAMA, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kingston, in the count i of Ulster, State of New York, have invented new and! useful Improvements in Crates, of which the following is -a specification.

This invention relates to crates.

In the transportation or shipment of bricks by water, as well as by rail, it is the custom to carry the bricks from the wharf or landing and stack them by hand power upon a barge or other vessel or carrier, using no boxes, crates or the like, and this method of handling the bricks for transportation and shipment consumes considerable time and `involves considerable expense, costing considerable for labor to load and unload, more to unload than to load. Such a method is expensive, slow and laborious as may be appreciated, not only in the matter of carrying or pitching bricks from one laborer to another, but as well in the stacking of the same for the sake of economizing space on the barge or vessel or transportation carrier.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a comparatively inexpensive, simple, strong, durable, practical and easily operated crate in which the bricks may be compactly and expeditiously packed in the crate and the crate easily hoisted onto a barge or other vessel or the like and with: out removal from the crate packed side by side and if necessary one crate upon another without the waste of space and as easily removed from the vessel as when placed there on, all at a. saving of space and without the usual waste of bricks incident to loss due to breaking bricks under the hand power method hereinbefore referred: to.

`With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction, within the scope of the claims, may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawing, the preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated in perspective view, one of the end members being broken away slightly so as to show the reinforced edges of the ends and bottom of the crate.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, wherein is embodied one form of my invention, and in which the crate is composed of sheet metal or other suitable materia-l, the reference character l indicates the bottom member and 2 and 8, the end members, vthe edges of the bottom and end members being preferably turned back upon themselves, as indicated at 4, to obviate sharp edges and to reinforce the edges of said members. The end member 2 is preferably rigidly connected to the bot-tom l and stands at a right angle thereto, rising from the bottom. The end member 3 is preferably connected by a strong hinge 5 to the bottom l so that it may be swung to an open position, that is, into a posit-ion in alinement with the bottom l as shown in dotted lines in the accompanying drawing, to facilitate the loading and unloading of the crate, and as readily swung to assume a position in parallelism with the end 2 as shown in full lines in the accompanying dra-wing.

rlhe bottom l is preferably unbroken, that is to say, it is preferably formed of a solid sheet of material so as to obviate openings therein and to prevent pieces of broken brick from falling through the botto-m, and thereby obviating any possibility of the necessity of re-piling or re-stacking the bricks on the bottom in the event of the breakage of the lower layer of bricks or any one of the bricks composing the lower layer. When the bricks have been stacked on the bottom l, the hinged end 3 is swung into parallelism with the end 2 and may be maintained in this position with relation to the end 2 by means of one or more locking bars 6. Each locking bar has laterally directed ends 7, to engage over the outer faces of the upper edges of the ends 2 and 3, as 'clearly shown in the drawing. These locking bars are preferably composed of steel and are in any event composed of strong material and embrace the upper edges of the ends 4 and 5 so as to condition the crate for hoisting when it is desired to shift the packed crate from the wharf or landing onto the land or water carrying vessel.

The ends 2 and 3 are provided each with spaced apertures 8 to receive grappling or chain hooks (not shown) of any suitable yhoisting means (not shown) so that the or loaded crate may be lifted and or shifted onto the barge or otherpacked swun Vcarrying vessel. It is during the hoisting operation that the locking bars 6 are preierably employed. When one crate is placed upon another, as when stacking a` number o crates on the deck or iloor of the carrying vessel, these bars 6 may or may not be removed. When `these bars are not used in the stacking operation, waste of space is avoided and in this connection, the'apertures 8 are employed to avoid the use of projecting loops, handles or the like which latter would result in the waste of space on the vessel and which space is heldrat more or lessl of a premium.- It might be mentioned herein that the crate may be built to accommodate or contain one hundred brick. Where Ait is desired to ship two hundred thousand brick, this can be done by placing two hundred crates each containing one thousand brick upon arbarge or other vessel and it can thus be seen that the method followed in the use of thepresent crate results in a considerable saving of time, money, labor and space on the barge or other carrying vessel. ,n From the foregoing, it will be seen that l provide acomparatively inexpensive crate for the handling of bricks and one which has collapsible characteristicscalculated to per mit storing of the unused crates in a Way to economize inthe matter of space.

What is claimed is:

1. A sheet metal crate consisting of a bottom, an endV member lixedly connected to one end of the bottom, an end member hingedly connected to the opposite end of the bottom, each end member having spaced apertures adjacent its upper edge, and a pair of bars removably engageable with the upper ends of the end members.

2. A crate for bricks comprising a bottom, an end member xedly connected to one end of the bottom, an end member hingedly connected to the opposite end of the bottom, the end members having means whereb the crate may be lifted and carried, the hinged member being adapted to swing into alinement with the bottom member and also into parallelism with the opposite end member, and means whereby to hold the hinged end member in parallelism with the fixed end member.

3. A crate for bricks comprising a solid,

one-piece bottom, an end member ixedly connected to one end of the bottom, an end member hingedly connected to the opposite end of the bottom, the end members havin means whereby the crate may be lifted an carried, the hinged member being adapted to swing into alinement with the bottom member and also into parallelism with the opposite end member, the. sides of the crate being open, and a device connecting the upper ends of the end members to maintain the hinged end member in parallelism with the fixed end member.

VIn testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

EDWARD F. MALIA. 

